You start with one bacteria This organism has a generation t

You start with one bacteria. This organism has a generation time of 30 minutes after a lag phase of 1 hour. How many bacterial cells would you have after 5 hours? I can\'t remember if the lag phase occurs with every generation, or just once. I know the answer is either 8 (if the lag phase occurs after every generation) or 256 (if the lag phase occurs only once during the first generation).

Solution

Lag phase occurs only once

So 4 hours remaning and bacteria will multiply double in every 30 minutes ...

So it will divide 8 times doubling at every cycle forming 2⁸ number of bacteria

=256 bacteria

always remember the formula is       =            starting number * 2 ^{rais power no of divisions} .....

Here starting number is 1 bacteria

but is only applicable during exponental phase

Hope that helps feel free to comment and discuss ... I will be glad to help you

Regards